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Betsy, a 22-year-old woman with autism, was referred for evaluation after being transferred from an institution to a group home. She had difficulty socializing with others in the home and engaged in self-injurious behaviors. During her evaluation, she spent her time reading a book monotonously and rocking back and forth, showing little awareness of her surroundings. Her history revealed symptoms of autism from a young age, including lack of social interaction, delays in language and motor skills, and sensitivity to environmental changes. She had been diagnosed with childhood schizophrenia at age 4 but a reevaluation determined her proper diagnosis was autism.

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127 views2 pages

ARR

Betsy, a 22-year-old woman with autism, was referred for evaluation after being transferred from an institution to a group home. She had difficulty socializing with others in the home and engaged in self-injurious behaviors. During her evaluation, she spent her time reading a book monotonously and rocking back and forth, showing little awareness of her surroundings. Her history revealed symptoms of autism from a young age, including lack of social interaction, delays in language and motor skills, and sensitivity to environmental changes. She had been diagnosed with childhood schizophrenia at age 4 but a reevaluation determined her proper diagnosis was autism.

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tugba1234
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Rocking and Reading

https://hil4ry.wordpress.com/2007/09/30/rocking-and-reading/

Kasus Autis 3:
Twenty-two-year-old Betsy was referred for evaluation by the staff of her group home. She
had been placed in the group home some 3 months previously, following court-ordered
deinstitutionalization from a large residential facility for the retarded. The evaluation was
requested because Betsy didnt fit in with other patients and had developed some problem
behaviors, particularly aggression directed toward herself and, less commonly, toward
others. Unlike other patients in the group home, she tended to stay to herself and had
essentially no peer relations, although she did respond positively to some staff members.
Her self-abusive and aggressive behaviors usually were triggered by changes made in her
routine.
Self-abusive behavior consisted of repeated pounding of her legs and biting of her hand.
Betsy had been placed in residential treatment when she was age 4, and had remained in
some kind of residential setting ever since. Her parents had both died, and she had no
contact with her only sibling. At the time of her transfer to the group home, she was reported
to have had several abnormal electroencephalograms, but no seizures or other medical
problems had been noted. When last given psychological tests, she achieved a full-scaleIQ of
55, with comparable deficits in adaptive behaviors.
During the evaluation, Betsy spends much of her time reading a childrens book she
discovered in the waiting room. Her voice is flat and monotonic. She is unable to respond
to any detections about the book she is reading and reacts to interruptions of her ongoing
activity by pounding her legs with her fist. She rocks back and forth continually during the
interview. She makes eye contact with the examiner initially, but otherwise seems oblivious of
everyone around her. She neither initiates activities, imitates the play of the examiner, nor
responds to attempts to interest her in alternative activities, such as playing with a

doll. From time to time she repeats a single phrase in a monotonic voice, Blum, blum.
Physical examination reveals extensive bruises covering most of her lower extremities.
Betsy was the product of a normal pregnancy, labor, and delivery. She was noted to have
been an unusually easy baby. Her parents had first become concerned when she failed to
speak by age 2. Motor milestones were delayed. Her parents initially thought that she might
be deaf, but this was obviously not the case, as she responded with panic to the sound of a
vacuum cleaner. As a young child, Betsy had been observed to live in her own world, had
not formed attachments to her parents. Had idiosyncratic responses to some sounds, and
always became extremely upset when there were changes in her environment.
By age 4, Betsy was still not speaking, and placement in the state institution was
recommended following a diagnosis of Childhood Schizophrenia. In the year after her
placement, Betsy began speaking. However, she did not typically use speech for
communication; instead, she merely repeated phrases over and over. She had an unusual
ability to memorize and became fascinated with reading, even though she
appeared not to comprehendanything she read. She exhibited a variety of stereotyped
behaviors, including body rocking and head banging, requiring a great deal of attention
from the staff.
Analisis:
Permasalahan Betsy sebenarnya sudah lama, termasuk hambatan dalam interaksi sosial
(tidak ada perhatian terhadap orang lain) dan hambatan dalam hubungan dengan teman
sebaya. Walaupun sudah bisa bicara namun nadanya monoton dan senantiasa mengulang
kata-kata. Dia menunjukkan perilaku stereotipik (rocking). Karena gejalanya sudah muncul
sejak awal masa kanak maka ditegakkan diagnosis Gangguan Autis. Pada beberapa kasus
Gangguan Autis, kadang-kadang dijumpai anak dengan IQ yang normal dan sangat jarang
dengan IQ yang tinggi. Pada kasus ini dijumpai Retardasi Mental Ringan.
Saat masuk ke sekolah khusus, dia didiagnosis gangguan skizofrenia masa kanak. Diagnosis
tersebut diasumsikan lanjutan dari gangguan masa kanak menjadi gangguan psikotik masa
dewasa. Namun berdasarkan beberapa penelitian longitudinal didapati bahwa tidak adanya
hubungan antara Gangguan Autis dengan gangguan psikotik masa dewasa. Hal ini dilihat
dalam DSM-IV yang menyatakan bahwa gangguan masa kanak tidak dihubungkan dengan
skizofrenia.

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